If you missed the drive today, you can still help Jesse and other patients like him!
For more information, visit: www.bethematchfoundation.org/goto/teamJesse
It was a day full of smiling, laughing, grilling out and eating cake.
It looked like a birthday party, but it was far from it. It was actually a much different type of get together, one that could help 22-year-old Jesse Thompson see his next birthday in better health.
"It feels good to know that people care," Thompson said.
For the hundreds of people that turned out, caring meant putting themselves in the bone marrow donor registry.
It's all in hopes that they might be a match for the young cancer patient.
"There could be a small chance that I'm the one, so I want to help out any way I can," new registree Jaymie Meyers said.
This all comes after Thompson was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in February. Doctors told him he would need a done marrow transplant.
More than two months later, there are still no matching donors to be found. It is a very unusual situation for someone like Thompson.
"I hear there's been a struggle to find a match for him, and what if I'm that person?" Meyers said.
Being "that person" would mean Thompson could possibly get the transplant he's been waiting for, putting an end to the cycle of chemotherapy and blood transfusions and other tests that he endures now.
"I hope that I find a match, and I hope that everything goes good," Thompson said.
And, he's not the only one wishing.
Family, friends, and even those who don't know Jesse came out to see if they could be the person to help.
"I hope that if it's not me, someone in this building can help him and he gets better," Meyers said.
